The Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to a one year 3.5 million dollar deal with former All-Star reliever Greg Holland.
Greg Holland was the 2017 NL Comeback Player of the Year, but don’t mention his name in St. Louis. The Arizona Diamondbacks better hope they are getting the Nationals version of their new reliever, and not the Cardinals.
The 33 year old’s resume is quite impressive outside of last year. Holland is a three time All-Star who has recorded over 40 saves in three different seasons. He even finished ninth in Cy Young voting in back to back seasons (2013-2014).
This deal could wind up being more than just 3.5 million dollars. Jon Heyman reported that there are plenty of incentives, and if they are all reached, the deal will double in amount. Mostly we should all just be happy a Scott Boras client signed a deal.
Greg Holland gets 3.5M plus incentives of 3.5m #dbacks
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 30, 2019
A Tale Of Two Seasons
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The Cardinals fan base was excited to get Holland right before Spring Training last year on a one year 14 million dollar contract. That is, until he started pitching. In 25 innings his ERA was well over seven, and his BB/9 and K/9 were the same number, 7.9. Needless to say, he was released.
Then the Nationals took a chance on him, after all the Cardinals were still paying him enough salary to make him cheap. That went a little better. He threw 21.1 innings for Washington with a sub one ERA, 10.5 K/9 ,and 4.2 BB/9. His FIP, per Baseball-Reference, went from 4.56 with St. Louis to 2.97.
Enter Arizona
The Arizona Diamondbacks are now hoping he can carry the momentum from his second act last year into the 2019 season. He joins a bullpen with the likes of Archie Bradley, who would appear as the only obvious candidate to fight for a closer position. If Bradley is used similarly to Josh Hader of Milwaukee (which I would recommend) then Holland might be the clear closer.
The Rest Of The Market
Unfortunately, Holland is not the name that goes off the board and all the dominoes start to fall. And my goodness do I hope that statement turns out to be wrong. This slow moving market will not be speeding up until the big names sign. So, Holland will play but we still don’t know the fate of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Dallas Keuchel.
As for Holland, best of luck in the desert. You might want to try to have a cold from July 12-14 when the Arizona Diamondbacks visit Busch Stadium to play the Cardinals.